Writing in English for an international readership

Scientific English serves readers and writers from many language backgrounds. Clear international communication depends on language the writer controls and the reader can understand.

Composing directly in English

Writers working in an additional language can build a text from the appropriate words into sentences, paragraphs and sections, rather than translating a completed text from another language. ^{1, 2, 3, 4} If the intended meaning is already clear, a sentence can be written straight away; when it is not, starting with a keyword can help. ⁴ Brainstorming words or synonyms can help inexperienced writers find the expression they need. ⁵ When an author's chosen word may not convey the intended meaning, the editor should ask the author what was meant. ^{1, 6}

This order of composition reverses the way readers scan a text, moving from titles and sections through paragraphs to individual words. ^{7, 5, 4} Scientific writing should use simple language that an international audience can understand, including when its authors are native English speakers. ^{3, 7}

Language background and intelligibility

Native speakers can usually find expressions more readily and save writing time, but familiarity can encourage colloquial language, jargon and careless wording or punctuation. ^{8, 9} Writers who learned English systematically may be more conscious of errors and better able to explain grammatical rules than native speakers. ¹⁰ One writing trainer considers simple scientific English easier for non-native speakers to write than for native speakers. ³

An experienced editor and peer reviewer considers attempts to imitate native researchers with language the writer does not properly understand the greatest threat to comprehension in scientific manuscripts. ¹¹ A non-native writer describes crafting sentences that sound awkward despite being grammatical, and links this difficulty to attraction to the forms of the writer's first language. ^{12, 13}

Intelligibility and conformity to native norms are different targets. ¹⁴ In 2012, the Journal of English as a Lingua Franca required English intelligible to a wide international academic audience without requiring conformity to native English norms. ¹⁴ The plural “evidences” illustrates the distinction: an editor reviewing manuscripts considered it incorrect in British English but no obstacle to comprehension. ¹⁴ A lingua franca specialist argues that native speakers' failure to adapt their speech for non-native speakers is a greater problem than non-native errors. ¹⁴

Constructions for second-language readers

English vocabulary, grammar and cultural conventions may suit speakers of some languages better than others. ¹⁵ Phrasal verbs combine a verb with a preposition or adverb to produce a meaning that may not be predictable from the parts: “give up” means to quit or stop trying. ^{15, 16} A single verb can make the text easier to follow where a phrasal verb would be difficult for a second-language reader. ¹³

English expresses motion in two ways: “she snuck into the meeting” puts manner in the verb and direction in the preposition, whereas “she entered the meeting surreptitiously” puts direction in the verb and manner in an optional adjunct. ¹⁶ The first is a satellite-frame construction, characteristic of Germanic languages and preferred in everyday English; the second is a verb-frame construction, characteristic of Romance languages and associated with a higher English register. ¹⁶

Resultative constructions such as “he wiped the counter clean” express an action through its outcome, using a complement to convey the result. ¹⁵ Many languages cannot combine a manner verb with such a complement. ¹⁵ Writers should decide whether manner or result is central to the message, choose the verb accordingly and, if necessary, express the other aspect in an additional phrase. ¹⁵

Idioms and cultural references can be difficult without their cultural context; essential ones should be explained or rephrased literally. ¹⁵ They can also support messages adapted to particular communities: one heart-disease campaign used American football, soccer, knitting and apps to create versions of the same basic message. ¹⁵

Guidance for global technical marketing

Technical markets include both international customers and domestic customers from other countries. ¹⁷ Guidance for communicating technical marketing content to non-native English speakers recommends these practices, which also facilitate accurate translation: ¹⁷

• Use deductive organisation, with topic sentences and important information at the beginning of each document, section and paragraph.
• Use plain language, concise phrases, short sentences and the active voice; limit long, complex sentences and avoid negative constructions.
• Use international measurements: the metric system.
• Use consistent, controlled and precise vocabulary based on denotation and concrete language, replacing colloquial phrases such as “looking into” with “investigate”.
• Use clear, specific statements rather than culturally specific metaphors, replacing the baseball expression “home run” with “success”.

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